A mycophage writes

Sir - Even in the wilds of Fife, which might be expected to suffer from Celtic mycophobia, oyster mushrooms are far more common in supermarkets than on trees. They are scarcely exotic these days, being cultivable on a diet of old newspapers - perhaps a more valuable use for the things than reading them, for as long as they present red-brown fungi, with a central stem, as oyster mushrooms.

The illustration (Aug. 20) looks far more like shiitake to this mycophage. Oyster mushrooms have almost no stalk, and they are grey - rather oyster-colour in fact, though pink and yellow variants are sometimes found in upmarket greengrocers and as grow-your-own kits.